Reducing the cost of cataract surgery.

With a significantly ageing population and stretched health dollars, the country’s large”st private provider of eye surgery has entered a strategic partnership with the country’s largest health insurer to ensure a significant reduction in the cost of cataract procedures for the private sector.

Eye Institute, has committed to incrementally decrease the cost of a cataract procedure for Southern Cross Health Society members by almost 30% in order to help make cataract surgery even more affordable for Kiwis.
Eye Institute CEO, Dr David Fitzpatrick-Cockram says, “We have entered into a long-term agreement with Southern Cross. They wanted to ensure great value with the best possible outcomes and treatment experiences for their 825,000 plus members. This marries with our commitment to provide high quality clinical care, exceptional patient service and in doing so maintain a sustainable sector.”

Geoff Searle, Head of Provider Networks at Southern Cross Health Society said, “Our main vehicle to provide members with cost certainty for their healthcare is contracting. We do this through the Affiliated Provider programme, where practitioners, specialists and facilities provide our members healthcare services at agreed prices. We are an organisation originally founded by surgeons who believed in a sustainable private sector. The continued growth in the number of providers and facilities participating in the programme shows this sentiment is alive and well.”

Southern Cross fund around 9,000 cataract procedures each year.

Searle says, “With our increasing senior population, this cataract volume is increasing each year, we need to be getting the best possible deal for our members. Eye Institute are definitely supporting us in this by providing exceptional patient experience at lower cost to the patient and in doing so, helping to keep the private healthcare sector affordable for a significant number of Kiwis.”